Jason Cochran is Editor-at-Large for WalletPop.com.

Interview skills are important for any writer. No matter how well-informed you are, there will almost always come a time when you have to ask someone their opinion on a topic -- and you want to do it correctly. An interview is also a good way to round out an otherwise dry analysis with a "human touch." Interviewing an individual, and letting them express their thoughts, helps drive your point home -- by demonstrating that there are real people out there suffering, enjoying, sharing, laughing, loving, crying, or whatever -- just like you mentioned in your story.

Put simply, your job as an interviewer is to simultaneously stimulate the subject into saying things and to listen.

Ask the Right Questions
To get someone talking, think like a Boy Scout and be prepared. Do your research, then prepare a rough list of questions you think might produce the answers you need for your article. Then, when your subject starts talking, keep engaging them until they answer the question. That may require that you to re-ask the same question in different words. Not all interview subjects are stubborn, but many of them get nervous -- especially if they aren't interviewed often -- and clarity from you is important to guide them to answer what you have asked. Sometimes, it also helps to repeat their answer back, but in your own words, to make sure you understand what they've said.

Example: Joystiq's interview with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor

Chris Paukert is the Executive Editor of Autoblog.

More than anything else, if you're going to set pen to paper for leisure's sake, it's important to pick a topic that interests you. Better still – choose to write about something that you are absolutely passionate about. For some of you, this will be easy. Many professional writers have admitted that they write because they don't know what else they would do with themselves. It's such an integral part of who they are that to not write about what they are passionate about would be to deny who they are as a person.

However, for others who don't write for the sake of writing, that usually isn't the case. So, how can you determine what you are passionate about?

• Think about conversations you have every day with friends, family, classmates and colleagues.
• Is there something in particular you can't stop talking about?
• Is there a given subject that people you know always solicit your opinion about, like movies, food, or cars? If so, chances are your passion and your knowledge shines through enough to make you something of an authority among your peers.